Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has rejected an African American history course that is set to be a part of the College Board’s slate of Advanced Placement courses in high schools.
In a letter obtained by ABC News, the Florida Department of Education rejected the course calling it “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
“If the course comes into compliance and incorporates historically accurate content, the department will reopen the discussion,” a Florida DOE official told ABC News.
The course is currently being piloted in a small number of high schools across the country with plans to roll out the course for any high school that wants it in the 2024-2025 school year.
“The interdisciplinary course reaches into a variety of fields — literature, the arts and humanities, political science, geography and science — to explore the vital contributions and experiences of African Americans,” read a College Board description of the course.
Some educators and students across the state have told ABC News that they fear DeSantis’ effort to rid schools of so-called “trendy ideologies” will target and erase important curriculum on the racial history of the U.S. from schools.
This is just the latest effort in DeSantis’ war on “woke”-ness, or marginalized identities, in education. He has made this a centerpiece of his gubernatorial campaign, and has been speculated to be a potential 2024 presidential candidate for conservatives.
“We seek normalcy, not philosophical lunacy, we will not allow reality, facts and truth to become optional. We will never surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die,” DeSantis said during his Jan. 3 inauguration.
DeSantis is behind the “Stop WOKE” Act, which restricts race-related content in workplaces, schools and colleges. However, the law has been temporarily blocked and is being battled in the courts.
He also signed into law the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, officially known as the Parental Rights in Education law, which restricts content on sexual orientation and gender identity from some classrooms.
Critics say these legislative efforts are censorship.
“Far from indoctrinating students into a so-called ‘woke agenda,’ educators often struggle to teach about the history and origins of racism … [Stop WOKE] would deepen this learning gap as educators, understandably fearful of public threats to police them, seek to avoid the penalties embedded in the law for teaching about prohibited topics such as the factual disparities in wealth, education and housing for Black people in this country,” the Southern Poverty Law Center said in response to the law.
DeSantis has also begun investigating data on higher education courses related to “diversity, equity and inclusion,” as well as “critical race theory.”
(WASHINGTON) — Another spending fight looms between the White House and Congress, reviving similar stalemates in 2011 and 2013 under President Barack Obama.
Then, as now, Congress was divided — a Republican House and a Democratic Senate — and the White House had a Democratic president.
Then, as now, ascendant House Republicans sought to use must-pass spending and debt legislation to negotiate priorities they said their voters wanted, such as major spending cuts and, in 2013, an effort to stop the Affordable Care Act.
The U.S. does not take in enough money in taxes or other revenue to pay for its expenses, so it must borrow to cover the rest — and on Thursday, the U.S. hit its current debt limit of approximately $31.4 trillion. The Treasury Department has begun what Secretary Janet Yellen called “extraordinary measures” to keep the federal government funded and give Congress more time to act.
Last week, Yellen wrote to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that she didn’t expect the department’s “cash and extraordinary measures will be exhausted before early June.”
That timeline sets the stage for a fierce political fight, with Republicans portraying Democrats as out-of-control spenders — racking up debts upon debts upon debts — and Democrats responding that the GOP, which holds the House, is unable to responsibly govern by paying the country’s bills for the military, Social Security and much more.
All the while, the Treasury says, the country is pushed closer to the brink of major economic consequences if it runs out of “extraordinary measures” and can’t borrow money.
“This has become a political football because it’s so easy to pass back and forth and get points for hitting the other side,” said one House Democratic aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “There’s less incentive to actually solve problems when there’s a chance to have a news cycle hitting the other side on it.”
A “football” is what the White House says they don’t want, citing how Congress has usually addressed the debt limit in a bipartisan fashion, under presidents of both parties and even when Republicans controlled the House and Senate.
“Congress is going to need to raise the debt limit without — without — conditions and it’s just that simple,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this month.
And while Jean-Pierre has since said there are ongoing conversations between the White House and members of both parties, “Attempts to exploit the debt ceiling as leverage will not work,” she told reporters this month. “There will be no hostage taking.”
McCarthy, R-Calif., has insisted that he would not support any debt limit increase without reducing spending back to fiscal year 2022 levels. He has pointed to the most recent election results.
“Republicans were elected with a mandate from the American people in the midterm elections. We campaigned on the fact that we were going to be serious about spending cuts. The Senate has to recognize we’re not going to budge until we see meaningful reform with respect to spending,” he said on Fox News over the weekend, referencing negotiations with the Senate.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., echoed that in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
“The Republicans were largely elected to get control of reckless funding. That’s the mission that their voters have given them. So, when President [Joe] Biden says he’s going to refuse to negotiate with Republicans on any concessions, I don’t think that’s right,” Bacon said.
“I want our side to negotiate with the Democrats in good faith,” he said, “but President Biden has to also negotiate.”
Lawmakers and congressional aides who spoke with ABC News say they bristle over the pall over the prospect of negotiations but admit that they see political advantages for each party.
“I think members, especially the Republican side, are very pressured right now to be able to rationalize not just to themselves but to their constituents what $31.4 trillion means to the country in debt. And if they just blindly go forward with the same old, same old, they’re not doing their job,” former Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Mich., told ABC News. “That’s exactly what their constituents will tell them. So, for every opportunity you have to address the issue of spending, you really, as a member, gotta take advantage of it.”
Former Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., who has since left the party, predicted that “House Republicans will play hardball.” Jolly added that concessions by McCarthy would be an “early broken promise” to the more conservative members whom he persuaded to vote him in as speaker.
President Biden, too, could see political upside in holding his line, some in his party say.
“Biden won’t need to negotiate as long as the public continues to understand that MAGA Republicans in the House are to blame for the looming crisis. They have done a good job so far. It will help him in the reelect to run in 2024 against a Republican House that’s out of control,” said one Senate Democratic aide.
Looking back at past spending, debt ceiling fights
The modern era of spending and debt limit fights traces back to the 2010 midterms, when Republicans retook the House in what was the largest gain for a party in the chamber since 1938. Conservatives demanded the Obama administration tackle deficit reduction in order to raise the borrowing limit.
In the summer of 2011, after months of fractious wrangling, Obama told reporters that “crisis” had been averted — the U.S. government’s debt limit would be raised, ensuring it could continue to borrow money to pay its bills, in exchange for major spending cuts sought by Republicans.
“It ensures also that we will not face this same kind of crisis again in six months or eight months or 12 months,” Obama said then. “And it will begin to lift the cloud of debt and the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over our economy.”
Even so, the fiscal fight had tiptoed close to the cliff of the Treasury exhausting its resources, leading Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the credit rating of the United States government for the first time ever.
Two years later, Obama was again celebrating a breakthrough with Congress over the government’s spending and debt limit.
This time — in the wake of Obama’s 2012 reelection and Democrats picking up seats in the House and Senate — a standoff with the House GOP majority ended in the conservative lawmakers conceding on almost all of their demands, with both parties in the Senate hammering out a deal.
“We’ve got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis,” Obama said at the time.
A 2013 ABC News poll showed that 54% of Americans agreed with Obama’s handling of the issue and only 40% agreed with Republicans’ handling.
However, that disapproval didn’t appear to bring with it any broader voter reaction, with the GOP seeing gains in the 2014 midterms.
Since then, the debt limit has either been paused or increased eight times, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, with Congress largely choosing to simply extend the debt limit rather than hold a vote on raising it.
“It should be done in a bipartisan way. It always has been,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on CNN last week, seeking to play down the possibility of another bruising battle.
“I think Republicans learned their lesson,” he said then. “They suffered, we won the election after that [in 2012], and they will hopefully come and work with us.”
With the debt ceiling looming again as a priority and a problem, some other lawmakers are getting frustrated.
“I’ve blamed both sides for a long time,” one House Republican said. “It’s an inherent problem that we must get serious about.”
The House Democratic aide took this view: “I think both sides will run aggressive messaging on this and, in the end, both will get blamed. Voters tend to channel anger at who is ‘in charge.’ In this instance, that includes a bipartisan group of leaders because of the current divide.”
(NEW YORK) — When Grace Featherston, a senior theatre education major at the University of Texas at Austin, received an email Tuesday notifying her that TikTok was being restricted at the university, she went on TikTok to share her reaction to the news.
She captioned her nine-second video post, “UT Austin just banned Tiktok on their WI-FI.”
“This whole thing with the Wi-Fi, that was kind of like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?'” the 22-year-old told “Good Morning America.”
This week, UT Austin said it was blocking access to TikTok starting Tuesday on the school’s wired and Wi-Fi networks, joining several schools in the Lone Star State in doing so. The university said it was taking the action to comply with Gov. Greg Abbott’s December directive “to all state agencies to eliminate the cybersecurity risks posed by TikTok.”
In the last month, numerous public colleges and universities in multiple states have announced bans on TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, from their schools’ campus Wi-Fi networks and devices, with many responding to directives from their state governments.
More than half of states have set a partial or full TikTok ban on government devices as both state and federal officials have voiced fears that American data and information could be shared with the Chinese government.
The federal government and TikTok developed a preliminary agreement last year to respond to national security concerns, but further review is required, The New York Times reported last September.
TikTok has said the data it collects from U.S. users is stored in the U.S. and in Singapore. The company said it has not taken down any user posts at the request of the Chinese government.
TikTok has previously rejected cybersecurity concerns state and federal agencies have raised, telling ABC News in December, “We believe the concerns driving these decisions are largely fueled by misinformation about our company. We are happy to continue having constructive meetings with state policymakers to discuss our privacy and security practices. We are disappointed that many state agencies, offices, and universities will no longer be able to use TikTok to build communities and connect with constituents.”
Featherston said she uses TikTok daily and has been on the app for the last four years — a period, she said, when people started using the app more during quarantine or while staying home during the pandemic.
Featherston said the new campus TikTok ban won’t affect her too much since she’s on the UT Austin campus one day a week and can switch to her personal phone data to use the app if she wants to, but she said the restriction has led her to consider other sides and question the restriction in the first place.
“UT is following the law but on the other hand, I can see it as a constitutional issue because we have students who live on campus who, that is their Wi-Fi, they pay to be there, they pay to use that Wi-Fi, and TikTok being restricted could honestly be a constitutional issue for freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Because, I mean, it’s censorship,” Featherston continued.
“I think we’re at that point where we’re gonna have to review it, let it go through the system, and if people aren’t happy with the result, I mean, I just think that’s all better incentive to say, ‘Hey, there’s a way to fix it. Time to go vote.'”
In Alabama, Auburn University first announced back in December that it would block TikTok access in accordance with Gov. Kay Ivey’s executive order banning TikTok from state devices and networks. On Jan. 9, the school announced it would restrict its use on school networks.
Braden Haynes, a senior visual media and marketing major at Auburn, said when she and her peers heard of the upcoming TikTok ban, they didn’t think it would actually happen.
“Everybody was like, ‘Yeah, right,’ kind of like, ‘I don’t see why they would do that,'” the 22-year-old told “GMA,” adding that she knew of schools, such as the University of Georgia, that had not implemented TikTok restrictions even though they were located in states that did have a TikTok ban on state devices and networks.
But by the time Haynes, a station manager for Auburn’s student-run TV station, Eagle Eye TV, returned to campus from winter break, the TikTok usage limit was in place.
“There’s no message. You just get on it and it just doesn’t load. Like it’ll play the first video [if] it’s already loaded up in there, but if you try to scroll or refresh the page, it just doesn’t do anything.” Haynes explained.
Daniel Schmidt, a journalism major at Auburn, said the TikTok ban on campus also would affect certain classes that had incorporated the app in coursework.
“Last semester in our multimedia journalism class, it was mandatory that we create a TikTok account and go on campus and create a social media video,” the 27-year-old told “GMA.” “From what it sounds like, we can’t use that as an option at all, which, there are other social media platforms, it’s not a huge deal, but again, there’s some limitations to the learning process here.”
“When it comes to students that aren’t employed by the state, not being able to use it on the university internet, I can kind of see the rationale, but I also don’t think that that’s cool, in my personal opinion,” Schmidt added. “That’s just a limitation of students’ expression for security reasons.”
From her perspective, Katherine Carroll, another Auburn senior, said her peers didn’t seem too worried about the campus TikTok ban and said others would likely find a workaround or pivot to other social platforms.
“I think, for most people, when you’re on campus, you’re at least trying to think about school. You might use TikTok to unwind but there’s so many other social media apps like Instagram Reels. It’s just a very small part of a bigger social media bubble that like, if they banned all social media, then I think people might wither up and die but it’s just one app. So I think it does have some impact, but we just haven’t seen it yet,” the 21-year-old journalism major said.
When it comes to the ban, Haynes said she felt TikTok was being singled out even as there have been concerns about other social media apps as well.
“Personally, I don’t see the point. I mean, I get where they’re coming from with privacy and things like that,” Haynes said. “…They can ban TikTok because it’s new and I think because it’s not a U.S.-based company … but the other apps probably have [issues]. So I don’t know that banning one app is going to make that much of a difference.”
(SANTA FE, N.M.) — Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the 2021 fatal shooting on the New Mexico set of the film “Rust,” officials said Thursday.
Santa Fe First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and special prosecutor Andrea Reeb announced their decision Thursday morning in a written statement shared with media.
First assistant director David Halls has already agreed to no contest for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
“After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the ‘Rust’ film crew,” Carmack-Altwies said in a statement. “On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice.”
In a statement, Baldwin’s lawyer, Luke Nikas, wrote, “This decision distorts Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice. Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win.”
Possible prison sentences on charges
Carmack-Altwies’ office said in October she would conduct a “thorough review of the information and evidence to make a thoughtful, timely decision about whether to bring charges” following a yearlong sheriff’s investigation into the on-set shooting.
Halyna Hutchins, 42, was working as a cinematographer on the Western when she was shot and killed by the film’s star, Baldwin, during an accident while he was practicing using a Colt .45 revolver on set. Director Joel Souza was also injured in the shooting.
Hutchins’ family said they support the charges and found them warranted “for the killing of Halyna Hutchins with conscious disregard for human life.”
“Our independent investigation also supports that charges are warranted,” attorney Brian Panish said in a statement on behalf of the family. “It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law. We support the charges, will fully cooperate with this prosecution, and fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law.”
In an interview with ABC News, Lisa Torraco, attorney for Halls, said he signed his plea agreement Wednesday.
“Mr. Halls and I are disappointed that she decided to bring a charge at all,” she said. “We believe that criminally he should have been completely exonerated. But we are happy with the resolution that she did propose, and that is the petty misdemeanor negligent use of a weapon.”
She continued, “When confronted with a potential felony, hearing up to 6 1/2 years in prison, or confronted with a petty misdemeanor, which was six months unsupervised probation, sometimes it gets to be the weighing of which choice is better, which of the lesser evils.”
No charges will be filed in the shooting of Souza, the district attorney’s office said.
Carmack-Altwies and Reeb will formally file charges before the end of the month, at which point each defendant will be issued a summons for their first court appearance, which can be done virtually or waived, prosecutors said. During a preliminary hearing, a judge will decide whether there is probable cause to move forward with a trial. Preliminary hearings are typically scheduled within 60 days of charges being filed, according to the district attorney’s office.
Should the case go to trial, a jury would have to decide under which definition of involuntary manslaughter Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed were guilty. For the first count of involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors must prove “underlying negligence,” while the second count, involuntary manslaughter in the commission of a lawful act, “requires proof that there was more than simple negligence involved in a death,” the district attorney’s office said.
Both counts are fourth-degree felonies punishable by up to 18 months in jail, however, a firearm enhancement on the second charge could carry a mandatory sentence of five years in prison, prosecutors said.
‘Cold gun’
Souza reportedly told investigators that Baldwin was sitting in a pew in the area’s church practicing his cross draw, facing the camera and crew and pointing the revolver toward the camera lens, when the shooting occurred, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Halls had handed the gun to Baldwin while proclaiming “cold gun,” to let the crew know a gun with no live rounds was being used, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Hutchins was killed by a live round inside the gun, authorities said.
Questions have surrounded how live ammunition made it onto the set and into the prop gun and whether proper safety precautions were taken by crew members.
Halls reportedly told investigators that he didn’t know there were any live rounds in the gun when he gave it to Baldwin, according to a search warrant affidavit.
The attorney for “Rust” armorer Gutierrez-Reed, who was in charge of guns and ammunition on the set, has previously said that his client had no idea where the live rounds came from and was not in the church where the rehearsal was taking place.
Her attorney, Jason Bowles, has alleged that Gutierrez-Reed was not called inside the church to inspect the weapons before they were brought out and that Baldwin did not accept her offer to train him on the cross draw, a “dangerous” method of carrying a handgun that started in the Old West.
“Hannah is, and has always been, very emotional and sad about this tragic accident,” Bowles said in a statement following the announcement of charges. “But she did not commit involuntary manslaughter. These charges are the result of a very flawed investigation, and an inaccurate understanding of the full facts. We intend to bring the full truth to light, and believe Hannah will be exonerated of wrongdoing by a jury.”
“If any one of these three people — Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed or David Halls — had done their job, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today. It’s that simple,” Reeb said in a statement. “The evidence clearly shows a pattern of criminal disregard for safety on the ‘Rust’ film set. In New Mexico, there is no room for film sets that don’t take our state’s commitment to gun safety and public safety seriously.”
Longtime Hollywood armorer Thell Reed, the father of Gutierrez-Reed, reportedly told investigators that ammunition once in his possession “may match the ammunition found on the set of Rust,” according to an affidavit for a search warrant executed last year.
The warrant authorized the search of an Albuquerque prop house, PDQ Arm and Prop LLC, owned by Seth Kenney. Kenney reportedly told detectives that he was hired to supply “Rust” with guns, as well as dummy rounds and blanks, according to the search warrant affidavit.
Reed told investigators that he worked with Kenney on a set several weeks before the “Rust” shooting occurred, and that Kenney allegedly took “an ammo can” containing live rounds back with him to New Mexico, according to the affidavit.
Kenney has denied providing live ammunition to the set.
“It’s not a possibility that they came from PDQ or from myself personally,” Kenney told ABC News days after the shooting. “When we send dummy rounds out, they get individually rattle tested before they get sent out.”
Baldwin thought charges ‘highly unlikely’
Baldwin previously said he didn’t believe he would face any criminal charges in the accident.
“I’ve been told by people who are in the know, in terms of even inside the state, that it’s highly unlikely that I would be charged with anything criminally,” he told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in a interview weeks after the shooting.
Baldwin said in the interview and consistently that he did not pull the trigger on the gun, a claim countered by investigators, who said the gun could not have fired without the trigger being pulled.
Carmack-Altwies said in an interview with ABC News that Baldwin was charged because he was one with the gun and pulled the trigger. “The trigger had to be pulled, Alec is wrong,” she said.
The district attorney’s announcement comes after the family of Hutchins reached a settlement in its wrongful death lawsuit against the film’s producers, including Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions, LLC, in October.
Carmack-Altweis’ office had said that the settlement would have “no impact” on her decision to file charges.
The incident has also led to several lawsuits, including one filed by Baldwin alleging negligence of his crew members.
“Rust” is slated to resume filming in January with all of the principal actors and Souza back as director. It’s unclear if the pending charges will affect production.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Doug Lantz, Alyssa Pone and Robert Zepeda contributed to this report.
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — The family of the 6-year-old boy accused of shooting a teacher at his Virginia elementary school is speaking out for the first time.
The family said the “firearm our son accessed was secured.”
The 6-year-old, who has not been named publicly, allegedly took a handgun from his home on Jan. 6, put it in his backpack and brought it to Richneck Elementary School in Newport News. He allegedly shot and wounded 25-year-old teacher Abigail Zwerner in a first grade classroom in an “intentional” act, according to police.
Police said the 9 mm Taurus pistol was legally purchased by the boy’s mother.
The 6-year-old’s family released a statement through a spokesperson, saying, “Our family has always been committed to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of the reach of children.”
“We have been cooperating with local and federal law enforcement to understand how this could have happened,” the family said.
No one has been charged and the investigation is ongoing. Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said Wednesday that interviews with children who were in the classroom should be completed next week. He did not give an exact date on when the investigation would be completed or if charges would be filed.
About 16 to 20 students were in the room at the time of the shooting and none of them were physically injured, officials said. After Zwerner was shot, she ushered all of her students out of the classroom, according to police. Drew call her “a hero” who “saved lives.”
The 6-year-old’s family said, “Our heart goes out to our son’s teacher and we pray for her healing in the aftermath of such an unimaginable tragedy as she selflessly served our son and the children in the school. She has worked diligently and compassionately to support our family as we sought the best education and learning environment for our son.”
Their son “suffers from an acute disability and was under a care plan at the school that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day,” the family said. “The week of the shooting was the first week when we were not in class with him. We will regret our absence on this day for the rest of our lives.”
The family said the 6-year-old is receiving treatment at a hospital.
“We continue to pray for his teacher’s full recovery, and for her loved ones who are undoubtedly upset and concerned,” the family said. “At the same time, we love our son and are asking that you please include him and our family in your prayers.”
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson and Caroline Guthrie contributed to this report.
(BLOOMINGTON, Ind.) — A white woman charged with stabbing an Asian Indiana University student seven times in the head on a public bus in Bloomington, Indiana, is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
The suspect, Billie R. Davis, who has been jailed on $100,000 bail since her arrest, has a bond hearing scheduled at the Monroe County Circuit Court in Bloomington, according to court records. Police have described the attack as unprovoked and racially motivated.
Davis, who also goes by the name Billie R. Pottorff, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon.
She was charged after allegedly confessing to repeatedly stabbing the 18-year-old student with a folding knife in front of passengers on a Bloomington Transit bus on Jan. 11, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.
Davis purportedly told investigators she targeted the student because she assumed her to be Chinese and “made statements that race was a factor in why she stabbed her,” according to the affidavit.
“Davis made a statement that it would be one less person to blow up our county,” the affidavit reads.
Video surveillance footage from the bus reviewed by investigators shows Davis allegedly coming up behind the victim and appears “to turn for a better position while clutching the knife” before stabbing the student without warning.
“Davis then folds the knife, puts it back in her pocket, and returns to her seated position on the bus. Davis doesn’t appear to acknowledge (the victim) after stabbing her or have any other contact,” the affidavit alleges.
Prior to the attack, the suspect and the victim had “no prior confrontation or negative interactions,” the affidavit said. The student, according to police, told investigators she was standing and waiting for the bus doors to open when she was assaulted.
Davis, according to the affidavit, exited the bus at the next stop. She was taken into custody after a passenger who witnessed the assault followed her on foot and reported her location to police, authorities said.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin and Rebecca Gelpi contributed to this report.
(FLINT, Mich.) — While weekly bottled water donations have ended for citizens of Flint, Michigan, according to city officials, the water crisis there is ongoing.
Health officials are urging residents to continue to use faucet filters certified to remove lead until the residential lead service line replacement is completed.
The residential lead service line replacement was initially set to be finished in 2019, according to a settlement agreement with the city. That deadline was eventually pushed back to the fall of 2022 and has most recently been set for completion in August 2023, according to city officials.
The city is offering free water filter units, replacement cartridges and water testing kits for Flint residents for pick up at City Hall or for delivery by the Office of Public Health.
The state is required to fund water filters for one year following the completion of the lead service line replacement project, which has been ongoing since 2016.
“More than 95% of lead pipes in Flint have been replaced, and we will continue the work until the job is done,” Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said in a recent statement on the water filters. “I will work with anyone who is committed to making that happen. I ask those remaining homeowners to give our crews right of entry so that we can fix this once and for all.”
The city received an extension and funding from the Environmental Protection Agency for the remaining 5% of lead pipe replacements and excavations.
In 2014, Michigan switched the city’s water supply to the Flint River.
The water source was switched back to Lake Huron in 2015 but according to the Michigan Department of Attorney General, “the damage had been done.”
Highly toxic levels of lead were discovered in the water and outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease coincided with the switch, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prompting a state of emergency declaration in 2016.
“The switch was made without the required anti-corrosive chemicals being added,” read a statement from the city announcing the lead pipe replacement project in 2016. “The corrosive water removed a protective coating on the inside of the pipes, allowing lead to leach into the water going to homes and businesses,” the statement continued.
In their latest announcement, city officials said that since July 2016, the city’s water system has met state and federal standards for lead in drinking water for 12 consecutive monitoring periods, and “bottled water has no health benefits over filtered tap water.”
The city also said that common point-of-use faucet filters like Brita and Pur effectively remove lead when installed and maintained properly.
Since 2018, 100,000 water bottles had been delivered weekly by BlueTriton Brands, Inc — a Connecticut-based beverage company — serving approximately 3,000 people per week, according to Flint officials.
Lack of trust in the city’s tap water has been an ongoing struggle for residents.
“There are huge victories that have [been] accomplished, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done,” Flint resident LeeAnne Walters told ABC News in 2021.
(CHICAGO) — A 21-year-old man with special needs was shot three times, including once in the head, while he waited for the bus to go to school in Chicago, according to police.
He’s in a hospital in critical condition, Chicago Police Commander Don Jerome said at a news conference.
The victim’s 15-year-old brother, who also has special needs, and the brothers’ father were with him at the bus stop when gunfire rang out around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jerome said. The brother and father were not hurt.
Police are looking for three or four suspects who were seen approaching the area, firing multiple shots and fleeing on foot, Jerome said.
No arrests have been made and police are asking for the community’s help.
Authorities believe the suspects were gang members who “likely thought that the victims were rival gang members,” Jerome said.
He stressed, “None of the family involved — the father nor the 15-year-old nor the 21-year-old victim — have any gang affiliation whatsoever.”
“No one should be shot, let alone shot while standing waiting for a school bus. No father should see his children shot like this,” Jerome said.
(NEW YORK) — “Extreme” drought has been completely eliminated in California for the first time in nearly three years, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
While the drastic change for California has happened over the last few weeks, the most recent batch of rain has completely eliminated the “extreme” drought category. However, while smaller reservoirs have returned to averages, many larger ones still remain low, according to experts. And it’s still “too early to tell if the wet weather is enough to end the drought.”
This is the first time since April 2020 that there has been no “extreme” drought in California.
While drought in the western U.S. continues to improve overall, the Colorado River Basin lags behind the Sierra Nevadas in terms of recovery.
It will take several seasons such as this one to help eliminate the drought in the area, which includes reservoirs Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
The National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center recently released top totals from the parade of storms that moved into California from Dec. 26 through Jan. 17. The top snow total was 240 inches in Mammoth Mountain and near Honeydew, California, nearly 4 feet of rain fell (47.7 inches).
The California snowpack continues to remain above normal for the entire season. When looking at season to date, parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains are nearly three times their average for this time of year.
Colorado River Basin
The Colorado River Basin — parts of Southern California, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Wyoming — has not had the large rain totals seen in Northern California, but the region is having an excellent season for snow and rain.
Some parts of the basin are now seeing their wettest season on record and this will greatly alleviate the drought in some areas.
Colorado’s current snowpack is at 128%. Some parts of Utah have reported over 200% of their snow-water equivalent compared to average. When the snow melts, it will eventually flow into the Colorado River and help alleviate reservoir stress.
However, critical reservoirs in the southwest U.S., like Lake Mead and Lake Powell, need this rainy and snowy pattern to happen for multiple seasons in a row. Daniel Swain, a climate expert at University of California, Los Angeles, told ABC News last year that it could take until the end of this century to eradicate this deep of a drought.
Additionally, it may take time before the relief hits the reservoirs since some of it comes from snowmelt. Lake Mead is currently at 28% capacity, which is well below where the lake has been at this time in the last few years.
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — Two Illinois paramedics accused of killing a patient are expected to appear in court on Thursday.
Peter J. Cadigan, 50, and Peggy Jill Finley, 45, are facing first-degree murder charges following the death of a man in their care last month. They are being held in the Sangamon County Jail on $1 million bonds. Both defendants are scheduled for a preliminary hearing before a circuit judge in the Sangamon County Courthouse in Springfield on Thursday at 9 a.m. local time, according to online records.
The paramedics were responding to a call for assistance with a man “suffering from hallucinations due to alcohol withdrawal” at a residence in Springfield on Dec. 18, 2022, just after 2 a.m. local time, according to a press release from the Springfield Police Department. The police officers on scene were wearing body cameras, and video from that night was released last week by the Sangamon County States Attorneys Office.
In the video, Finley can be heard yelling at a Black man on the floor, who identified himself as 35-year-old Earl L. Moore, Jr., to “sit up” and “quit acting stupid.” She is also heard telling Moore: “We ain’t carrying you” and “I am seriously not in the mood for this dumb [stuff],” using an expletive in her remark.
Eventually, as the video shows, the officers on scene help Moore walk outside to where an ambulance and a stretcher awaits him. Finley and Cadigan are then seen strapping the patient onto the stretcher in what police called “a prone position,” or lying facedown.
According to police, the officers attempted to provide Moore care after the paramedics “acted indifferently to the patient’s condition.”
“The officers took steps to assist the patient, to get him the care he needed, even waiting on the scene to ensure the medical personnel loaded the patient into the ambulance,” the Springfield Police Department said in its press release last week. “The officers, who are not emergency medical professionals, are not trained nor equipped to provide the necessary medical treatment or to transport patients in this type of situation.”
Moore died after he was transported to a local hospital, according to police.
ABC News has reached out to the respective attorneys for Cadigan and Finley for comment.
A representative for LifeStar Ambulance Service, Inc., which employs Finley and Cadigan, told ABC News last week “no comment,” in regards to the ongoing investigation into the incident. ABC News has since reached out again for comment.
Teresa Haley, president of the Springfield branch of the NAACP, said watching the bodycam footage reminded her of George Floyd, the unarmed 46-year-old Black man who died in handcuffs while being pinned under the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020.
“They literally threw his hands behind and strapped him down. He couldn’t move if he wanted to and he’s face down,” Haley said at a press conference last week. “They did not show any compassion whatsoever to this individual. He should be alive today.”
Moore’s family have retained nationally-renowned civil rights and personal injury attorneys Ben Crump and Bob Hilliard. They are expected to announce the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit against Cadigan, Finley and LifeStar during a press conference at the NAACP office in Springfield on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. local time.
